This invention relates to a trap which is used to capture moles and other burrowing animals.
Moles and other burrowing animals have long plagued yards, gardens, flower beds and other areas containing vegetation. Over the years, many different types of mechanical mole traps have been proposed, including the traps shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,079,827 to Beers and U.S. Pat. No. 2,475,467 to Alvau. However, the traps that have been proposed in the past are effective only part of the time if at all.
Mole traps have typically included spring loaded spikes or bails which are intended to be triggered when a mole passes through a tunnel. The triggering mechanisms that have been proposed have been lacking in a number of respects. Those that include a part which projects into the mole tunnel tend to frighten the animals away before they have gotten close enough to activate the trigger. Some traps cause considerable damage to the surrounding vegetation, both when they are applied and when they are triggered. Other traps are unsuitable for use in both open yard areas and more confined areas such as small gardens or flower beds.
The mole traps that have been available in the past also suffer from lack of durability and a tendency to wear excessively after only a few uses. Safety has also been a problem. Most of the traps that have been available in the past are constructed in a manner to present a possibility of human injury during setting of the spring, and the injury potential is especially great with traps that employ sharp spikes for impaling the mole. It is also necessary for a proper balance to be achieved in the sensitivity of the triggering mechanism. The trap should not be triggered so easily that false triggering occurs but it should be reliably triggered whenever a mole is present in the tunnel to which the trap is applied. Prior traps have not been able to achieve and maintain a proper sensitivity balance.
The present invention is directed to an improved mole trap that is simple and effective and is not plagued by the problems that have hampered other traps.
More specifically, it is the principal object of the invention to provide a mole trap that functions in a dependable and repeatable manner to capture moles and other burrowing animals. The mole trap has a unique triggering mechanism and wire loop arrangement that function more effectively to capture moles than the traps that have been proposed in the past.
Another object of the invention is to provide a mole trap having a triggering mechanism that is subject to neither premature triggering nor failure to trigger when it should.
A further object of the invention is to provide a mole trap that can be safely set without the possibility of human injury. In this respect, it is an especially important feature of the invention that the spring is placed under tension from above and only after the remaining components have already been placed in their set positions.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a mole trap of the character described which is constructed simply and economically and which can be operated repeatedly without undue wear on the parts.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a mole trap of the character described that makes use of wire loops for capturing moles. The use of wire loops instead of sharp spikes enhances the safety of the device and allows it to function effectively to capture moles without the possibility of sharp spikes being driven into the hands during setting of the trap.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a mole trap of the character described which is suitable for use both in confined areas and in open areas, which does not unduly damage the surrounding vegetation, and which is able to reliably capture moles moving in either direction in a mole run.
Still another object of the invention is to provide, in a mole trap of the character described, a multiple purpose tool which serves both to place the spring under tension during setting of the trap and as an aid in the proper positioning of the wire loops that are used for the capture of moles.
Other and further objects of the invention, together with the features of novelty appurtenant thereto, will appear in the course of the following description.